Silk Painting

I've mentioned before that I have a problem following patterns (I think it's that left brain vs. right brain thing) and although I do create things with patterns - to prove to myself that I can - I really enjoy just listening to the project to see what it wants done.

These scarves were a blast to create. I took this workshop with Houston Bead Society members Janie Fitzgerald and Fern Handler, who are expert weavers and dyers, and learned how to use silk paints and salts to create these random patterned scarves. All I really had to think about was the colors I wanted to use and go with it!

Tomorrow I will be taking a Thread Painting workshop with Nancy Prince (sponsored by the Greater Houston Quilt Guild). Nancy uses thread like most other artists use paint - fabric is her canvas and thread is the paint. We will be using free-motion machine embroidery to learn how to embellish our fiber art work (the straight stitch and zigzag are the only stitches we are going to use). Some of her work encompasses hundreds of thousands of yards of thread - yes, you read that right! If you visit her site, she has a short tutorial on her technique.

I can't stress enough the importance of taking workshops...not only do you learn something new, but you spend some time with like minded people doing something fun. And, if you're in a rut, workshops open you up to the possibilities and may even lead you down a path you might never have travelled.